ISLAMABAD: While Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran khan is vehemently preaching austerity and end to VIP culture, his chief minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Pervaiz Khattak has spent Rs2.6 million of the public money on entertainment and bakery items alone during the last one year, The News has learnt.

According to documents provided by the KP Chief Minister’s House, an amount of Rs22.8 million was spent from August 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014 by the CM House under various heads.The official figures were provided in response to an information request filed by this correspondent under the KPK Right to Information (RTI) Act 2013.

The statement of month-wise expenditure of the Chief Minister’s House revealed that an amount of Rs2,556,491 was spent on entertainment and bakery items during the above-mentioned period. The total amount spent on only bakery items remained Rs565,240 while the entertainment cost the national exchequer an amount of Rs1,991,728.The official figures also disclosed that an amount of Rs10.1 million was spent by the KP Chief Minister’s House on electricity bills while gas bills accounted for Rs1.7 million.

The telephone expenses for the same period remained Rs381,274 while an amount of Rs7,966,491 was spent on salaries of the staff.The official response also testified that no gift had been presented to any guest/person by the chief minister KP during the period.

It is pertinent to mention here that this scribe has also forwarded an information request to Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif about the break-up of expenses during the period from August 2013 to August 2014 under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information (RTI) Act 2013. Although, the request to Punjab Chief Minister House was also sent on the same day when the KP Chief Minister’s House was requested about the information, so far no response has been given by the Punjab government.

The News filed the information request to both the KP and Punjab CM houses on 18th September 2013. Under the Punjab RTI Act 2013, the officials have to respond to an information request within 14 working days.